[B-Greek] PRWTOS and PRWTON (was Adverbs)

Iver Larsen iver_larsen at sil.org
Thu Mar 31 02:29:35 EDT 2011


PRWTOS is a fascinating word. I am rather dissatisfied with how it has been 
treated in BDAG, because they do not clearly address the different functions 
when it is an adjectve and when it is an adverb.

I prefer to focus on the semantics before looking at the grammar. The word 
compares different things or events. It basically means "ahead of" which can be 
temporal or in terms of position. If different events are compared, usually with 
the same agent, then it is the adverbial function. If different agents or 
objects are compared, it is the adjectival function. For the adjectival 
function, it is usually possible in English to use the definite article, since 
we are talking about things, and quite often even Greek has the definite article 
before PRWTOS.

It would take too long to mention all the NT examples, so let me just take those 
in John:

In 1:15 and 1:30 the two people compared by PRWTOS are Jesus and John. John said 
that Jesus was "ahead of me".

In 2:10 the events of setting out the good wine ahead of the bad wine are 
compared. PRWTON as adverb.

In 7:51 hearing a person's defense goes ahead of judging him. PRWTON.

In 8:7 the potential stone throwers are compared. The one without sin may go 
ahead of the others. PRWTOS.

In 10:40, 12:16 and 19:39 we have the neuter adjective TO PRWTON in a somewhat 
fixed phrase referring to a time before the present one or before any later time 
reference.

In 15:18 we have γινώσκετε ὅτι ἐμὲ πρῶτον ὑμῶν μεμίσηκεν.
GINWSKETE hOTI EME PRWTON hUMWN MEMISHKEN.
You should know that it has hated me ahead of you.

Although my database tags PRWTON as an adverb, I would say that it is the 
accusative adjective comparing me and you-plural. Notice that the genitive is 
used for the second part of the comparison, similar to 1:15,30 (and dare I say 
Luke 2:2 where the time of two censuses is compared.)

In 18:13 Jesus is brought to Annas before anything else is done to him. PRWTON.

In 19:32 the first crucified person is compared to the others. Same action to 
different objects. PRWTOS here in the genitive PRWTOU.

In 20:4&8 John arrived ahead of Peter at the tomb. Same action, different 
people. PRWTOS.

These are all the occurrences in John, but I find the same pattern in the other 
texts.

Now, 1:41 has no problem if PRWTON was the original text. The first action by 
Andrew was to find his brother, Simon.

It is difficult to make any sense out of the PRWTOS here. In that case Andrew 
would be ahead of somebody else in finding his brother Simon. As you say it 
might conceivably mean that Andrew was the first to find his brother, but that 
does not fit well with naming Simon as the brother. Nor does it fit well with 
the verb being in the prominent first position in the sentence. It is the 
finding of his brother that must be ahead of other actions by Andrew. The PRWTOS 
would be: "He was the first to find his own brother, Simon, and saying to 
him..." The PRWTON is clear enough in NIV: "The first thing Andrew did was to 
find his brother Simon and tell him,..."

The NET bible has the following comment here:

Most witnesses (Aleph* L Ws Maj.) read πρῶτος (prwtos) here instead of πρῶτον 
(prwton). The former reading would be a predicate adjective and suggest that 
Andrew “was the first” person to proselytize another regarding Jesus. The 
reading preferred, however, is the neuter πρῶτον, used as an adverb (BDAG 893 
s.v. πρῶτος 1.a.beta.), and it suggests that the first thing that Andrew did was 
to proselytize Peter. The evidence for this reading is early and weighty: P66, 
75 Aleph2 A B Q Y 083 f 1, 13 892 al lat.

Iver Larsen

----- Original Message ----- 
From: =)
To: Iver Larsen ; B-Greek List
Sent: 31. marts 2011 05:52
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Adverbs


Dear Iver and all,

I did the same as you, but I could not find conclusive evidence of the 
difference, at least in the new testament. Although my initial thought on seeing 
that "prwtos" was declined as an adjective was that it should "modify" the noun 
as you stated, I could not find an occurrence in the new testament where it was 
unlikely to act as an adverb "modifying" the verb. So do you have any particular 
examples? And if "prwtos" does modify "outos", is it possible that it could mean 
that Andrew was the first to find his own brother (implying either that John 
later found his or that others like Philip would also find their own brother) or 
that Andrew was the first to find someone else in general (implying that others 
later would also bring people to Jesus)? On the assumption that the other of the 
two is the author of the gospel and that Philip is the brother or at least close 
to Nathanael, I would favour the former as the implied meaning. Or have I 
misunderstood?

Regards,
David Lim



On 31 March 2011 03:04, Iver Larsen <iver_larsen at sil.org> wrote:

----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>

To: "Iver Larsen" <iver_larsen at sil.org>
Cc: "=)" <p1234567891 at gmail.com>; "B-Greek List" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 30. marts 2011 19:39

Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Adverbs



On Mar 30, 2011, at 11:26 AM, Iver Larsen wrote:


----- Original Message ----- From: "Carl Conrad" <cwconrad2 at mac.com>
To: "=)" <p1234567891 at gmail.com>
Cc: "B-Greek List" <b-greek at lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: 30. marts 2011 11:53
Subject: Re: [B-Greek] Adverbs


This question originally related to John 1:41 which in the NA reads:
εὑρίσκει οὗτος πρῶτον τὸν ἀδελφὸν τὸν ἴδιον Σίμωνα
hEURISKEI hOUTOS PRWTON TON ADELFON TON IDION SIMWNA
This one (he) first finds his (own/real) brother, Simon.

The original hand of Aleph wrote πρῶτος PTWTOS. It was corrected later in the 
Aleph ms, and it has very little mss support.


But the Majority Text has PRWTOS. Tischendorf has it too.


IL: I suppose this is not really the place to argue textual criticism, but let 
me copy from Metzger:
"The reading πρῶτος, attested by א* and the later Greek tradition, means that 
Andrew was the first follower of Jesus who made a convert. The reading πρῶτον, 
which means that the first thing that Andrew did after having been called was to 
find his brother, was preferred by a majority of the Committee because of its 
early and diversified support (P66, 75 אc B Θ f 1 f 13 cop arm geo al)." The NA 
apparatus includes A among the supporters of PRWTON.

The suggestion that Andrew was the first follower of Jesus to make a convert 
just not fit with hEURISKEI in initial position nor does it fit with the 
sentence as a whole. Both internal and external reasoning strongly favours 
PRWTON.

Before I studied all the occurrences of PRWTOS and PRWTON in the NT I was 
unclear about the difference, but it became much clearer afterwards.  I can only 
recommend the exercise, and it would be nice to go beyond the NT, but there are 
sufficient examples within the NT to give a good feel for the usage.

Iver Larsen 




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